Vatican City In a Christmas shadowed by violence and the threat of conflict around the world, Pope John Paul II expressed "great apprehension" over the situation in Iraq but optimism at the outlook in the Middle East. Ukraine Ukraine's constitutional court struck down a section of a recently adopted electoral law in a decision welcomed by both camps ahead of a tense, historic presidential rerun election set for the following day. Mideast The contest to succeed Yasser Arafat as Palestinian president kicked off in earnest as frontrunner Mahmud Abbas issued an uncompromising list of demands to end the conflict with Israel. US The European-made space probe Huygens headed for a historic up-close encounter with Titan, the only celestial body of the Solar System with an atmosphere resembling that of Earth, after successfully separating from the US spacecraft Cassini. India Former Indian prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, who died of a heart attack, was cremated with state honours in southern India. Iraq Rescuers in Baghdad lifted blackened corpses on Christmas Day from the ruins of a suicide truck bombing the previous evening that killed eight people, further unnerving Iraq's embattled Christian community. Turkey Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said his government was doing its utmost to find a prominent Turkish businessman who is believed to have been kidnapped by unidentified militants in neighbouring Iraq. Indonesia Christians in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated country, flocked to churches to celebrate Christmas under tight security following warnings of possible terrorist attacks. Nepal Nepal's government invoked anti-hoarding and price control laws to stem rises in food and fuel prices as a Maoist blockade of the capital entered a third day, state-run radio announced. Russia A Russian cargo vessel bearing Christmas gifts and vital supplies of food and fuel is just hours away from docking with the International Space Station (ISS), the Itar-Tass news agency reported.